We finally have Microsoft's entrant into the realm of motion gaming, the Kinect. Microsoft's code name for Kinect was Project Natal.

This isn't just another Wiimote knockoff. Kinect is the result of hundreds of millions of dollars of research Microsoft has invested in speech and motion recognition.

The Kinect is not a handheld game controller like the Wiimote or the Playstation Move—rather, it is a sophisticated sensor suite that detects your position and movements in 3D space.

There are severalgreatstories already out there explaining how Kinect detects motion. We aren't going to repeat all the basics here, so if you are interested in that sort of thing check out the above articles.

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About the size of an American quarter, the base has a tiny motor with three fragile plastic gears. Barring overheating issues with the top unit, we're guessing this motor assembly will be the Kinect's weak point.

Do not physically force the Kinect into a specific position—allow it to automatically calibrate its aim.

Fragil is a difficult word to use when refering to plastic gears, for some/most applications outside of industrial use, "plastic" is a better choice (plastic is in quotes to denote that most gears are a composite material, not usually a specific variatal unlike a soda bottle).

Microsoft hasn't acquired Primesense yet. This indicates to us that as impressive as the hardware is, Microsoft's software is doing the heavy lifting, turning the sensor bar's array of data into a 3D mesh of your spatial position.

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Most of the Xbox's processing power is dedicated to gaming, so Kinect preprocesses the image prior to sending it on to the Xbox. Kinect condenses all the information it collects about your living room into two things: a color image and a depth map.

For the IR emitter, are these part numbers that are listed in the article? If so, where did they come from? I googled for them, and can't find anything. I know the grating in front is custom, but I would be interested in the data sheet for the emitter.

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This is a Prime Sense diagram explaining how their reference platform works. The Kinect is the first (and only) implementation of this platform.

One camera (and one IR transmitter) provide input for the depth map (rumored to be just 320x240), while the third camera detects the human visual spectrum at 640x480 resolution.

We have heard claims that the system can measure distance within 1cm of accuracy at two meters. While that's great in concept, early reviews are showing that you don't get anywhere near that accuracy in the real world—yet.

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Here we discovered three of the four microphones inside of the Kinect.

There are a total of four downward facing microphones: three on the right side and one on the left side.

Microsoft determined that the best orientation for optimal sound gathering would be downward facing.

In order to properly recognize voice commands, the Kinect must perform an audio calibration for the room that its in. However, if you alter the arrangement of the furniture in your room, you must re-calibrate.

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Our friends at Adafruit have posted a $2,000 bounty for the first team to write an open source driver for Kinect. The Wiimote has been tremendously useful for our hobby robotics projects, and the Kinect's advanced sensors could really jump-start robotics research.

Note that the depth-sensing camera appears to use a screw-in manual focus lens, while the color camera has an auto-focus mechanism for its lens. This is probably because the depth image only needs to be good enough for the image processor, while the color image will be seen by users (and MS wanted it to be nice & sharp).

Also note that the "IR projector" is actually an IR laser with a diffuser over it that creates a random-dot pattern all over your living room (search YouTube: Kinect night vision). The depth camera is used to measure the dot displacement (from its known pattern) to calculate the depth over the image (WIPO Patent WO/2007/043036). A laser is required so that the projected pattern is always in focus. Since the projector is a laser, I'm guessing that its flex cable has safety features to shut it off as soon as you start taking apart the Kinect's housing.

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I wish there was a service manual ! Bought my Kinect more than a year ago, used it 3-4 times. Today I took it out from the dust, and it doesn't work anymore, error 2c, and nothing seems to come out of the rgb cam :(

BEWARE of the 3 tiny washers/spacers in the base of the Kinect, that are not mentioned in the breakdown anywhere. I'm still trying to figure out which side of the gearsets they actually go on. Best practice to avoid the situation I'm in would be to unscrew the 4 philips screws and take the base off with the Kinect in the upright position, maybe you'll have better luck!

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